Yo Unregistered: Join us for the April 1 meeting when it will be Recovery night. We will have demonstrations working with winching, recovery and spotting. We will meet at 7:30 p.m. at Jefferson County Fairgrounds (not Stevinson Toyota but nearby).

A-B reached an agreement to purchase the majority stake (58%) from Fulton Street Brewery - Goose Island's legal name - from its founders and investors for $22.5 million. Craft Brewers Alliance owned the remaining 42% in FSB and reached an agreement to sell its stake to AB for $16.3 million in cash. Recall that A-Bs holds a minority stake (32.25%) in CBA.

If this gets passed, AB and the big guys will squeeze out all the mom-n-pops (breweries and liquor stores)with the chains and force yella piss down our throats. The only way we get to taste really good craft beer then is make it ourselves or go to small-ish(but not mom-n pop anymore) craft breweries used as fronts for the big guys to capitalize on the craft beer movement. And just like other trends in our country today, we will buy the idea that we are drinking locally made beer that tastes good. Hah! Coors has been made here for eons and I never liked it. Local craft beer will only succeed as small breweries struggling to break even.

I think you are worried about this for know reason. I grew up in Kentucky where you can buy full strength beer anywhere from gas stations to grocery stores.
I almost always bought my beer from the liquor stores because the liquor stores always had a better choice of beer and there were plenty of mom and pop stores to choose from. The liquor stores will have to carve out a niche market by offering more choices or better prices. What is to stop these small shop from setting up a co-op so they can compete on price. Besides you still need a place to by hard liquor.

BROOKLYN, NY, APRIL 1 — In a move that stunned many on New York’s craft beer scene, a successful craft brewery has been purchased by a global beer conglomerate for the second time this week. On the heels of Anheuser-Busch’s acquisition of Chicago’s Goose Island, MillerCoors, a joint venture of SABMiller and Molson Coors, has announced that it has purchased the majority stake in Brooklyn Brewery. The details of the sale were not disclosed, but initial estimates suggest a $25 million deal.

The deal will place Brooklyn under the umbrella of Tenth and Blake Beer Company, MillerCoors’ new craft beer arm that is responsible for domestic crafts like Blue Moon and Leinenkugel as well as imports like Peroni and Grolsch.

“We’re excited to bring Brooklyn Brewery - with a long history of brewing great craft beer - under our wing,” said Tom Cardella, Tenth and Blake’s CEO, in a joint news conference with Brooklyn Brewery co-founder Steve Hindy. “This is an exciting period for this segment of the beer industry and we’re glad to have the opportunity to use this acquisition to continue to help grow this segment.”

Under the agreement, Brooklyn’s distribution will expand to 46 states, but all brewing of Brooklyn products will be relocated to MillerCoors’ facilities in Shenandoah, Virginia and Golden, Colorado. Brewing will cease at their Utica, New York facility once the transition is complete. In addition, the recently-expanded Brooklyn facility will be placed on the market. Cardella notes that the Brooklyn space is “valuable real estate that can be leveraged toward greater profitability in the future.” He hopes to sell the facility by April 1, 2012.

Departing Brooklyn brewmaster Garrett Oliver is moving on to greener pastures, citing, “I’ve been brewing for over 20 years now, and it’s time to ride off into the sunset.” He will stay on in a consulting capacity until complete shutdown of the Brooklyn facility, developing a new selection of Brooklyn beers that will utilize corn and rice as part of the grain bill. The first - Brooklyn Genuine Draft - will be a crisp, fizzy American Adjunct Lager that clocks in at 3.7% ABV and under 95 calories.

It’s safe to say that for the craft beer industry, this has been an exhausting week that happens to end on April 1st. We’ll keep you apprised of more details on the deal as they become available.